The parish is educationally better off than most. There are national schools at Wood End Green, which were opened in 1836. In 1860-3 were built some larger schools, out of the benefaction of a Dr. Triplett, who left a large sum for that purpose at his death, in 1670, for the benefit of Hayes, Petersham, and Richmond. The learned doctor was a Prebendary of Westminster and York, and he lies in Poets' Corner. The poor parishioners of Hayes also benefit by Lady Dacre's charity of Emmanuel Hospital at Westminster. Among the other benefactors to the parish is Robert Cromwell, whose family are mentioned in the registers in 1596-8, and who gave some lands, the proceeds of which were to be laid down in "six gowns of strong blue cloth for as many poor widows, or other women, of Hayes." These benefactions are all administered by a board of trustees of the amalgamated charities.

The Tithes Commutation Act, passed in 1836, put an end to the annual payment of tithes throughout the kingdom; but this measure was anticipated, so far as Hayes was concerned, in 1809, when the Act was obtained for enclosing the common and extinguishing the tithes.

We will conclude this chapter with the following remarks of Mr. Mills on the Hayes Registers :"Here we may read of the baptisms of children bearing their fathers', and of children bearing only their mothers' names, and many of children marked as bastards and baseborn; of marriages completed, and of one begun, and not completed; of burials of rich and poor, lords of the manor, esquires, knights, ladies, coachmen, &c., and of that of Elias Dupree, said to have been hunted to death in the parish, and to whose memory a slab is said to be affixed in Gloucester Cathedral; and of many 'strange women.' Also many singular entries arising out of and illustrating the laws relating to burial in woollen: how John Hart, a farmer, to escape a certain part of the due on a baptism (20s.), declares that he is not worth £50 per annum in real estate, or £600 personal; then of Roger Jenyns, Esquire,' in haste, possibly finding himself excluded from or not sufficiently appreciated in John Jenyns' will, hurries off to James Clitherow, the magistrate, gives sworn information that John Jenyns had

been that day buried in a coffin fitted with velvet in which case there would be a fine, and Roger, as the informant, would be entitled to one-half. Again, Rachel Lee (honest London woman) desires to be buried in linen; she pays the £50 fine, and has her desire. Again, we read of taxes and fines, or penalties, on births, deaths, and marriages; there are payments under the two first heads, but I find no mention of single men or of widowers remaining unmarried, and paying the fines or penalties. We read of 'Plague Years,' of a time when the year ended in March instead of in December, and of numerous instances of longevity. We find these registers signed by vicars, and sometimes—when they could write--by churchwardens, and when they could not, then marked by them with a cross. We read of two of the Wesleys preaching here. We read of an early attempt at a popular week-day service, which met with great success at its introduction.

As to education, we may gather from the marriage register that, whereas in 1763, out of every 100 persons married only 37 could write their names, in 1872 the percentage of those who could do so had risen to 69. Finally, we may read in these registers that peace has not always been the rule. The clergy have turned their backs on each other in the church; some parishioners have smoked their pipes, drank their beer, made noises, and rung the church bells during service, while others have not refrained from cock-fighting and digging graves in the churchyard, in defiance of authority.

"There is much, then, in these old registers that we must regret to lose. These books allowed the man of taste and education to make his remarks, and to enter them in the language that he liked best. Did he wish to quote Cicero, or to protect a book by a malediction, to state where he dined on Sunday, to express his opinion on taxes and other matters, he did so freely in these registers. But now that the hard and fast forms prevail, printed in columns, with certain ink to be used, and certain exact particulars only to be stated, no room is left for taste; and while science and statistics may be advanced, the individuality of man and the interest of the ancient record must alike disappear."

Norwood-the "north wood "-doubtless was so called with reference to the Thames and its "riparian" dwellers, just as Norwood, in Surrey, derived its name from its relative situation to the great town of Croydon. The village lies on the edge of Osterley Park, between Heston and Southall, and the country around, although somewhat level, is nevertheless well-wooded and pleasant. The Grand Junction Canal skirts the village on its northern side. Like the district which we have just left, much of the land hereabouts is well adapted for brick-making, a branch of industry which is still largely carried on here, though some what on the decline; whilst in the immediate outskirts of the village are market gardens and orchards, with an occasional farm. Many of the inhabitants are engaged as bargemen on the canal. No literary interest attaches to the parish, which is very small, and shows but little signs of increasing in population, lying in a retired spot, far away from a railway station. In 1871 the population of the entire "precinct," which includes the inmates of Hanwell Lunatic Asylum, and also those of Marylebone Workhouse Schools on Southall Green, was given in the census returns as 5,882, and in 1881 the number was returned as 6,688.

The first mention of Norwood as a manor occurs in the will of Warherdus, A.D. 830, who left it to the church of Canterbury. It then contained I 20 acres. No mention of it is made in "Domesday," when it probably was joined to that of Hayes. At the time of the Reformation it be longed to the Cheesemans, who held it under the archbishop, to whom a knight's fee (£5) was payable at every death or alienation. It afterwards was in the hands of Fynes, Lord Dacre, and his

in Westminster,* on whose death, in 1595, the manor was sold. It was afterwards in the hands of the Childs, of Osterley Park, and later on it belonged to the Earls of Jersey, from whom it passed to Sir Charles Mills, Bart. The Earl of Jersey is, however, the chief landowner.

Norwood consists of several handsome and substantial houses, surrounding a triangular villagegreen of some twenty acres, adorned with fine elms. The cedars, yews, and evergreens in the various gentlemen's gardens help to give the village a leafy and well-wooded appearance, even in the winter.

At the north corner of the green, nearly opposite to the vicarage, stands the church, which modern restoration, by the importation of colour both inside and outside, has rather succeeded in disguising, so that it looks like a new erection of the Cambridge Camden, or the Oxford Architectural Society. It is small, with a dwarf wooden tower and spire, and a fine wooded porch on the south side. One of the arches dividing the nave from the north aisle is Norman.

The restoration of the church was carried out in 1864, down to which period there were several helmets and coats of armour hanging upon the walls; but these have all disappeared, except one helmet, which is kept loose on a canopied altartomb on the north side of the chancel, within the altar rails; and even from this some stray visitor, with light fingers, but without a conscience, has managed to carry away part of the vizor.

Some of the windows contain fragments of old painted glass; but the east window is filled with modern coloured glass, which was inserted on the restoration of the church. In the chancel is a brass to the memory of Francis Awsiter, dated 1624, and in the nave one to Matthew Huntley, dated 1628. There are a few interest

• See "Old and New London," Vol. IV., p. 23.

ing monuments and tablets, notably the altartomb mentioned above, which is to the memory of Edward Cheeseman, who was Cofferer to Henry VII., and who died in 1547. Another monument, consisting of a sarcophagus bearing upon it a life-sized semi-recumbent effigy of the deceased, commemorates John Merick, Esq., of Norcut, who died in 1749. The font, which is large, and designed for entire immersion, is of an octangular form, and ornamented with quatrefoils. A fine yew-tree stands in the churchyard, as in most of the Middlesex parishes.

forced into a separate district. In 1838 a small chapel was erected on a waste spot of land then called Southall Green; but it is of no interest whatever, and serves only as a specimen of the very worst and poorest attempts at modern Gothic art before its revival by the elder Pugin and Sir Gilbert Scott.

Opposite the church is a small and modest vicarage, with a good garden in the rear. Adjoining it is Elmfield Lodge, a handsome villa of the suburban type, with a magnificent cedar-tree on its lawn. Here was born Mrs. Challice, the

In the early part of the last century a small portion of land and some cottages were bequeathed by one Francis Courtney for the purpose of charitably educating poor children in the parish "till the world's end." In 1772 Elisha Biscoe bequeathed a large sum of money for the purpose of educating and clothing thirty boys and ten girls belonging to the parishes of Norwood, Heston, and Hayes. The school-house of Norwood was erected in 1767.

Southall is quite a new parish, having really been called into existence by the construction of the Great Western Railway. It is the centre of a very flat and dreary district. As Norwood was cut off from the mother church of Hayes, so has Southall in its turn been cut off from Norwood and

accomplished authoress of "Memories of French Palaces," "Distinguished Women of France," and of several novels, a lady whose premature death was deeply regretted.

Between the green and the railway-station stands a fine old manor house, of the Jacobean type, with plain mullioned windows. In its hall is a finelycarved oak mantel-piece, not unlike those which we have seen in the Charter House, London,* and at Duncroft House, Staines. + The entrance-hall is fine, and retains its Elizabethan windows and Jacobean fire-place, and many of the other rooms still remain in their original state. It was formerly